Meeting & Agendas

The meeting was called to order at 11:40 a.m.

The meeting was opened with a welcome and the introduction of the New Dean of Business Studies, Lorlie Ellis and the new member of the committee Linda Williamson, Workforce Solutions. All other attendees introduced themselves to the guest and new members.

Jane asked everyone to review the minutes from the October 21st, 2015 meeting for approval. It was discovered that the action item to remove EDUC 1100 and replace it with POFT 1171 had not been completed. Jane will move forward with getting the changes made and present them to the upcoming curriculum committee meeting in spring 2018. It was also suggested to use either/or in the description for the upcoming changes due to the limited number of POFT 1171 sections. Jane explained to the committee that the number of the EDUC sections exceeds the POFT 1171 and she does not want to hinder the students’ progression based on needing the one credit hour POFT 1171 course. Vote: The committee unanimously approved the fall 2015 minutes.

David presented information on the new college initiative, Guided Pathways. This new plan will work to assist students with enrollment, advising, career exploration, and goal setting. David explained that the goal of this initiative is to make sure that once a student completes all of the required tasks during the online application process, they are not left unaided in the processes remaining. Some of the goals are to: 1. • Monitor student progress on their program plans, providing frequent feedback and support as needed 2. • Give students predictable course schedules that make it easier to organize their lives around school and graduate on time. 3. • Build bridges into college programs (as opposed to preparing students for college generally) from high schools, adult basic education, and other interested students. 4. • Redesign the intake process to help entering students who are undecided about a major to choose a field of study as quickly as possible. David gave the committee some insight on the redesign of the intake and enrollment process. During the enrollment process, online advisors monitor the students’ progression through the application and once they have successfully completed the online application and submit for progressing, an enrollment advisor will contact the student to make sure everything on the enrollment checklist has been achieved. The enrollment team has been organized with an online team of 8 staff members who will review 200 to 220 applications per day and a campus staff member who will mirror the task of the online enrollment advisors when students need in- person assistance. Once enrollment has been achieved, the student will be assigned an advisor. If the student enrolls with less than 12 hours, they will be assigned an advisor for the first 30 credit hours. District wide it is the goal to assign all students to an advisor. Faculty advising is also a goal of the college and the idea is to have an advisor assigned to the school of training the student has enrolled in. Currently, Jane serves as the advisor for Office Administration.

Jane asked the committee to refer to the 4 handouts that are examples of what an occupation award looks like in other departments. Jane explained that if the committee was to move forward with creating an award, it would be best suited for the general, legal and medical degree/ certificate students. The idea of developing an award is to give students a record of completion for training within the workforce to improve job opportunities. Jane also explained that the 9 hours of the award would transfer into the programs other certificate and degree plans. Committee members reviewed and discussed the awards from other departments and discovered that the courses required for completion could not be achieved in one semester due to one or more courses being a prerequisite of another. Members discussed the ability for the award to work for Office Administration and once again discovered that the completion would not be attainable in one semester due to required prerequisites. Question: Member Mary Joy Guzman asked, what is the purpose for the award? Answer: The award gives students the opportunity to gain short-term workforce training. Question: Wilfredo Cerrato, the representative from Adult ED asked, can keyboarding be added to a degree plan so that grant students can receive aid for the course? He explained that keyboarding is the skill that most of his students lack and it is difficult for them to achieve this skill through the Office Administration program because of cost and the lack of grants and financial aid support. Currently, the course is not a requirement in the degree plan. Question: Wilfredo Cerrato, the representative from Adult ED asked, can the course itself be coded as developmental and not remedial? The committee reviewed the current certificates offered and discussed the relevance of the award. Wendy Chance shared her thoughts and reminded the committee that we have to consider the demographic of those returning to the workforce and be mindful that the industry is very competitive. She also shared that there is a need for keyboarding because you can’t have one without the other. That skill supports all other functions of the occupations the program works to develop for students. Jane shared her appreciation for the discussion and offered the idea of tabling the skills award and adding the one credit hour POFT 1127 Introduction to Keyboarding course to the Office Assistant and 17 credit hour Medical Office Assistant certificate. The committee agreed and Jane will take the changes to curriculum committee in the November or January. Vote: The committee unanimously approved the changes to be taken to curriculum committee

Jane shared that one of the results from the program review was to add a specialist position to the department. Jane, decided that it would be beneficial for the department to convert Charlene’s administrative assistant position to a specialist position instead of hiring and funding a new position. In addition to the current duties, the new position would assist with marketing efforts, social media endeavors, track graduates, career fairs, build relationships with internship assignments, faculty training and expand community partnerships. Currently the proposed changes are in Human Resources for review.

Jane shared the enrollment numbers from fall 2015 to fall 2017 and the numbers are down. Graduate numbers are up and we had 19 graduates in spring 2017. Jane also shared that she has meetings with the articulation department to discuss the possibility of partnering up with area high schools.

Wilfredo opened his presentation with the introduction of the two grants that are currently being offered to students in the adult education program. The Level Up grant is for students who are seeking level 1 certificate. This program offers academic and advising support, loaner textbooks and a monetary award upon completion. The Ability to Benefit program is for students who are without a high school diploma or GED, and allows for the student to enroll in a level 1 certificate program with the first 6 credit hours being paid for by the grant. Once the student has completed at least 6 hours, they become eligible for financial aid. The programs are designed to assist students that are on the pathway to workforce education careers. Currently there are 20 students in the program and another 42 are scheduled to enroll in spring 2018. Potentially, Office Administration will have an estimated 50 students enrolled from these programs. More information about the programs can be found at http://sites.austincc.edu/career-pathways/

Meeting was adjourned at 1:08 p.m.